Effect of Pressure on the Apparent Specific Volume of Proteins

The magnetic densimeter has been employed to measure the densities and apparent specific volumes of certain proteins in aqueous solutions as a function of pressure. The method gave values in satisfactory agreement with those found in the literature for aqueous electrolyte solutions. A change in apparent specific volume of the monomeric proteins, ribonuclease and turnip yellow mosaic virus and its capsid protein, at pressures up to 400 atmospheres at 20 degrees C was not observed within the precision of the measurements. Also, no change in the apparent specific volume of tobacco mosaic virus protein was observed as a function of these pressures whether the protein was predominantly in the polymerized or unpolymerized state. The magnetic densimeter was found to be a convenient instrument for measuring compressibilities of very small samples of solutions.